Earlier W. A. Abeysinghe, Chairman of the Sri Lankan National Library and Documentation Boards (NLDSB) reported that “a large number of school libraries, community libraries, children libraries, public libraries, libraries belonging to religious institutions… have either been completely destroyed or severely affected” and has called upon the international community for assistance to reconstruct/repair the damaged libraries and the restoration of the damaged books and other library material.

According to the preliminary estimates the damage to the buildings and to the other infrastructure facilities is huge and donations in the form of either library material or financial assistance are sought says Abeysinghe.

WebWorld will continue reporting on the situation of libraries and archives in the region as information becomes available.